Core Virtues: A Literature-Based Program in Character Education

The Core Virtues Program is a practical, nonsectarian approach to character education on a kindergarten through sixth-grade level that involves approximately twenty minutes per day of reading and discussion. Its goals are the cultivation of character through such virtues as respect, courage, diligence, patience, responsibility, compassion, perseverance, faithfulness, and more. <P>Core Virtues includes: a strategy for implementation; a month-by-month sequence for the teaching of virtues school-wide on a three year cycle; grade specific goals for kindergarten to sixth grade; reproducible definitions of the virtues keyed to various grade levels; connections with the Core Knowledge sequence; and a critical resource guide to literature organized by virtue (over 600 entries by grade level).

Mary Beth Klee is the founder of Crossroads Academy, a K-8 independent day school in Lyme, New Hampshire. She served as Head of School from 1991-1996. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Klee holds an Ed.M. from Boston University and a Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from Brandeis University. She works as a consultant in character education and history education.